Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 1391

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1891

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	2 January 1891	Charles Smith Helena Gawler	Charles Smith Melina Gawler 💍 1891/3161	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 35	Wellington Wellington	1 Week 1 Week	Registrars office Wellington	91/371		2 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
2	3 January 1891	Charles Whittingham Wychaley Maria Martin	Charles Whittingham Wycherley Maria Martin 💍 1891/3163	Widower Spinster	Saddler	48 49	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 days	Registrars office Wellington	91/373		3 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
3	5 January 1891	George Hayne Snowcroft Annie Jones	George Mayne Morecraft Annie Jones 💍 1891/3164	Bachelor Widow	Gardener	38 31	Pahautanui Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/374		5 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
4	5 January 1891	Charles Lundstrom Caroline Hudson	Charles Lundstrom Caroline Hudson 💍 1891/3165	Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	37 22	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/375		5 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
5	5 January 1891	James Francis John Smith Beatrice Evalina Fraser Burn	James Francis John Smith Beatrice Evalina Meser Burn 💍 1891/3160	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	24 19	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of Mrs Burn Arthur Street	91/353	Agnes Burn, mother	5 January 1891	Rev. Joseph Berry
6	6 January 1891	Charles Frederick Robinson Julia McCarthy	Charles Frederick Robinson Julia McCarthy 💍 1891/3166	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	30 26	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/376		6 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
7	6 January 1891	Thomas Stephenson Julia Lohench	Thomas Stephenson Julia Lohenet 💍 1891/64	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 20	Wellington Wellington	4 months 12 months	St Pauls Cathedral	91/335	Alexander Lohench, father	6 January 1891	Rev. John Still
8	6 January 1891	John Alfred Edmundson Prudentia Elizabeth Grey	John Alfred Edmondson Prudentia Elizabeth Grey 💍 1891/3152	Bachelor Spinster	Wool merchant	42 32	Wellington Wellington	years 3 days	St Mary of the Angels	91/363		6 January 1891	Rev. P. Kerrigan
9	12 January 1891	James Michael Beveridge Agnes May Hallaghan	James Michael Berridge Agnes Mary Hallaghan 💍 1891/3055	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	25 21	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marys Cathedral	91/316		12 January 1891	Very Rev. J. McNamara
10	12 January 1891	Oliver Bateman Pennifather Frances Annie Read	Oliver Bateman Pennefather Frances Annie Judd 💍 1891/54	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 25	Haywards Haywards	years years	Home of Mrs Read Haywards	91/348		12 January 1891	Rev. W. J. Watkin
11	16 January 1891	Stephen Percy Curtis Caroline Jeffery	Stephen Percy Curtis Caroline Jeffery 💍 1891/3067	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	36 24	Wellington Wellington	years years	St Marks Church	91/304		16 January 1891	Rev. R. Coffey
12	16 January 1891	James Donaldson Mitchell Eliza Jane Hawthorn	James Donaldson Mitchell Eliza Jane Hawthorne 💍 1891/3167	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	22 23	Wellington Wellington	years years	Home of the Hawthorn Hansom Street	91/354		16 January 1891	Rev. Joseph Berry
13	19 January 1891	John Allen Laura Jane McStewart	John Allen Laura Jane McElwain 💍 1891/3467	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	23 18	Wellington Wellington	years years	Registrars office Wellington	91/377	Jane Bateman, mother	19 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
14	20 January 1891	Stanley Vincent Signs Alice Selina Hargreaves	Hanley Vincent Syme Alice Telina Hargreaves 💍 1891/3478	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Porter	22 21	Wellington Wellington	years 1 year	Registrars office Wellington	91/378		20 January 1891	W. L. Wyall
15	20 January 1891	William Gilbert Alice Leslie	William Gilbert Alice Leslie 💍 1891/51	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 19	Wellington Wellington	1 day years	House of Mr Leslie Woodville	91/328	Alexander Leslie, father	20 January 1891	Rev. J. Paterson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).